Oakland Athletics' Josh Donaldson (20) collides with the rolled up mat that covers the playing field after catching a ball hit by Toronto Blue Jays' Adam Lind (26) in the second inning of their baseball game held at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, July 30, 2013. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)

OAKLAND -- The A's haven't played many clunkers at the Coliseum of late, but Tuesday night's 5-0 loss to Toronto certainly qualified as one to forget.

Oakland didn't do much good work on the field in any department. But general manager Billy Beane did some off it, acquiring veteran infielder Alberto Callaspo from the Los Angeles Angels for minor league infielder and 2009 first-round pick Grant Green.

The A's were thought to be in the hunt for starting pitcher Jake Peavy, but that didn't materialize. Callaspo is a more modest upgrade at perhaps a bit of a high price, but one Beane thought needed to be made to stabilize Oakland's infield down the stretch.

Green, 25, had a brief trial with Oakland earlier this month but went 0 for 15 and looked shaky defensively at second base. It's also clear the A's weren't comfortable with the alignment they used Tuesday night with journeyman Adam Rosales at shortstop and Jed Lowrie shifting to second base. Hence, Callaspo.

"It's not so much a matter of (Green) working out, it's a matter of addressing a need for a first place team, and recognizing and trying to grasp the present," said Beane. "I think we're in a pretty unique position. We need to do everything we can to help this club out.

"We did think highly of Grant, and the price was steep," Beane added. "But again, it was a seller's market for this position. There just weren't very many guys at this position out there, and we needed to get somebody."

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The switch-hitting Callaspo, 30, is batting .252 this year with five home runs and 36 RBIs, but he is a career .301 hitter against left-handed pitching, and he is expected to platoon with Eric Sogard at second base. He'll also give the A's more flexibility to rest shortstop Lowrie and third baseman Josh Donaldson when necessary, Beane said.

"Any upgrade that's going to help this team, I think we're going to be behind it," Donaldson said.

One concern, and Beane admitted as much, is that Callaspo hasn't played second base since 2010, and only sparingly then. He has played almost exclusively at third for the Angels the past three seasons.

"I am concerned, but he has played it a lot in the past," Beane said. "I talked to Alberto, and I told him he's going to have to get over there. The good thing is he's played it a lot in the past."

Callaspo is expected to be in Oakland in time for Wednesday's game. Unless something materializes late, he'll likely be the A's only acquisition in advance of the 1 p.m. trading deadline. Beane said he wasn't actively pursuing any more deals.

"Sometimes things happen quickly, but I would say probably not," he said. "You never know, you get calls sometimes on the last day in the morning, but at this point, I don't see anything right now."

Oakland, which had won 24 of its previous 30 games at home and hadn't been shut out at the Coliseum since June 15 (Seattle's Felix Hernandez), simply didn't have it on this night. Starter Dan Straily surrendered a two-out, first-inning solo homer to Jose Bautista, and the Blue Jays never looked back behind veteran starter Mark Buehrle (7-7), who allowed just five hits and no walks in shackling the A's over the first seven innings.

Toronto added a run in the fourth on three straight singles, then chased Straily with three more runs in the fifth. No. 9 hitter Emilio Bonifacio opened the inning with a homer, a Rosales throwing error allowed a second run to score, and after Straily gave way to reliever Dan Otero, Colby Rasmus singled home the third run.

Straily (6-5) gave up six hits, two walks and five runs over his 4﻿2/3 innings, but only two were earned.

Left-hander Brett Anderson threw his latest bullpen session before the game -- 57 pitches -- and both he and the A's believe he is close to being ready to pitch in a rehab game, perhaps by early next week.

"I threw all my pitches, and it went well," Anderson said. "I'll come in tomorrow and see how I feel and go from there. I have a live BP set up for Friday. It will be good to get some swings against me and see how hitters react to my pitches. Now, I'm just honing in and making sure my arm strength's good and make sure all my pitches are doing what they're supposed to."

Josh Reddick was kneed in the head in a scary collision with second baseman Lowrie in the seventh inning on a bloop down the right field line by Edwin Encarnacion. Reddick lay on the ground for a couple of minutes but eventually got up and stayed in the game.

"Fortunately, I didn't lose consciousness or even get dizzy, I just got a really bad headache and some bruising in the back of the head," Reddick said. "I got pretty lucky. None of us called it, that was the downfall. We just ran into each other."